Meet Gaston Bogomolni | Jewish Clergy, Cantor, Musician, Sound Healer, Educator, Brief Therapy Mentor, CBHT, 3rd generation therapy student (Master Level)

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gaston Bogomolni and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gaston, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Before starting TAL Community Mental Health Center, I was the cantor, one of the senior Clergy at one of the most prominent Synagogues in South Florida, Beth Torah Benny Rok Campus. I have been a cantor and spiritual leader since I am 14 years old serving different countries around the world. During the Pandemic in 2020 all services and programs were done behind the cameras with no congregation in attendance. The preparation for any activity would be without a question time consuming and triple the time than when things happened live. In addition, for a clergy not to be able to be in direct contact with his/her own congregants is extremely frustrated. I was burned out working daily from 7am – 2am every day, editing videos, overworked and tired. I was feeling down that I couldn’t give more than a service to my people and I was worried for their emotional and mental health. On top of that I felt that many of my colleagues were also going through a time of stress and over-work, but unfortunately, we are not very good to seek for help when we need it, as we feel WE are the ones helping others.

One day in October of 2020 I stood up from my chair (working from home) and told my wife “No MORE! I don’t wish to continue working this way and I no longer want to serve a congregation full time, I need to go out there and impact the world, help people heal their emotions, heal their souls.” Immediately, my wife, Marcela Gomez-Bogomolni, Clinical Social Worker and Business Owner, told me: “why don’t we open a Community Mental Health Center?” My response was affirmative and positive,

The story gets even better and maybe it is for another question, but the truth is that back in December of 2018 I had a dream and in it I was given a tour to a Celestial Healing Center which was just amazing! At the end of the tour I was presented with a key and the “light” that was escorting me told me that the center was mine. In response I said “this place is gorgeous, and I am flattered that this is for me, but what’s the name?” and the “light” replied: “TAL”. Which is Hebrew means “Dew”. We tranformed TAL into an acronym: Transformation, Affection and Love. Our center integrates both Conventional Clinical Therapy with Holistic and Alternative Therapies.

What should our readers know about your business?
T.A.L. (Transformation • Affection • Love) COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH/HEALING CENTER, is the first integrative mental health/healing center in South Florida that combines both the conventional/clinical work as well as the alternative/holistic approaches for Individuals, Couples, Families, EAP, PSR. This means that we treat individuals in body, mind, spirit and soul. We offer therapy and coaching. We also offer bilingual services.

We are also very invested in support/empowering life groups as well as Holistic individual and group approaches:

Teachers support group
Clinicians, Counselors, Therapists, Social Workers Support Group
Immigrants & Refugees support group
HIV & LGBTQA
Cancer Patients Support Group
Parents of Young Adults Support Group
Immigrants Acculturation Support Group
Divorce Support Group
Grief & Loss
Retiros | Seminarios
Grupo para Parejas | Couples Support Group
Men’s Circle Group
Parents of ADHD kids
PostPartum Support Group
Post-Covid Support Group
Clergy Emotions Healing Group
Diplomats Family Counseling
Torahpia (Torah + Therapy)
Holocaust Survivors 1st & 2nd Generations Support Group
Military Family Support Group
NewlyWeds Support Group
Pre-menopause Psycho-educational Support Group
Pre-Marital Course
Single Moms Support Group
Bar/Bat Mitzvah Families Support Group

Individual therapy, Coaching sessions (where they teach you to regain confidence in yourself), Couples therapy, and we have many other services to start in the Summer of this year.

TAL CMHC understands first-hand the need of supporting, not only the students and their families, but the counselors, clinician, and therapists as well.

T.A.L. Community Mental Health Center has developed a series of workshops, retreats, seminaries, classes, and empowering life groups to support the well-being of individuals and groups in different settings of their lives. These workshops were created to work with several populations in which we have included, clinician, therapists, teachers, clergy, professors, counselors, and social workers who presently work with high risk or vulnerable communities such as the students and their families in the Public-School settings. As we are aware of the tremendous amount of stress and emotional situations working in the school setting among these populations.

Our Holistic services are:

Healing through the Arts | Sanacion por medio del Arte
Sound Healing / Sonoterapia
Healing through Yoga
Akashic Records | Lectura de Archivos Akashikos
Family Constellation | Constelaciones Familiares
Ruptura de Lazos Negativos | Breaking negative ties
Chakras & Sefirot Alignment | Alineacion de Chakras y Sefirot
Medicina Ortho-molecular
Energy Healing
Mindfulness for Stress Relief Support Group | Meditacion
Healthy Decisions – healing through Nutrition | Sanacion por cambio de habitos alimenticios
Jewish Values & NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) | PNL
Torahpia & Musar (Personal Spiritual Work Biblical Based)
Quantum Healing
Regressions | Regresiones

TAL has its non-profit system, Tzimtzum, The Source of Light, which mission aims to promote and instill spiritual awareness by supporting individuals, families, and communities to create strong and healthy emotional relationships. Partnering with other organizations, professionals, worldwide spiritual leaders, therapists and holistic practitioners to empower, support, and educate them by engaging in community activities such as self-help workshops, seminars, community meals, retreats and group counseling sessions using Jewish wisdom, mental health, mindfulness and holistic tools.

TAL Community Mental Health Center Licensure and Our Team
• Fully licensed by AHCA.
• Vendors of Miami Dade Public Schools and applying for Broward Public Schools.
• Approved by circuit 11, 15 and 17 court houses for Pre-Marital Courses. Presently applying for Children and Family services, DUI, Domestic violence, etc.
• Members of the Refugee Task Force in Miami Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.
• Accept Medicare, Cigna (Evernorth), Cigna Health Spring, Magellan, Aetna, United Health Care, Oscar, Oxford, and awaiting approval from Humana and BCBS and more.
• Approved as a Clinical and Social work Internship site of Barry University and as a qualified employer for Miami Dade College students.
• Partners of the MAR-JCC, CAJE, SAGE, Jewish Federation, and many other synagogues in the South Florida Region.
• Partners with a few Montessori Schools, Aventura Charter School, St. Lawrence Catholic School, and Grace Preparatory Academy.
• Partners with The Sterling Aventura Senior Homes and The Plaza at Parksquare Luxury Assisted Living.
• Accept out of pocket / cash. For those in the community who are more in need we have a sliding scale fee.
• Offer combined and discounted packages based on the needs of the client.

It hasn’t been easy, especially for someone like me who came from a totally different field! I’ve got to learn many things about being a business owner, about my strengths, my weaknesses. I certainly I have got to learn about the health system, credentialing, insurances, HIPAA laws and dealing with self contractors, hiring, employing, and many broken pieces in the system as well. I learned about my resistance to do some things like others, I wanted to do it on my way, and then I hit the wall…Since we have started we moved from one office to another, due to policy changes in Medicaid, we had to change many plans and staff. We also wanted to cover too many areas at once and that was a lesson to learn, so we are much more focused in fewer services and now the energy is focused.

I do think that jumping into the adventure and endeavor to be your own boss and create a new business from scratch is the best think that any human being can do. Is like raising a child and being mesmerized for any new steps he/she takes. Decision making, learning quickly for all the mistakes, let go very quickly of expectations and stubbornness. The way you treat your employees is a good reflection of who you really are. There is so many lessons on this journey, including to realize how much in the comfort zone I was having done the same thing for 31 years in my previous career. I realize that the comfort zone can only lead you to “death”. Today I am much more active, creative, outgoing, attentive. If I don’t fight for what I believe is right no one else will do it for me. Another beautiful part is that I get to work with my wife on this project and in spite of the bumping roads, we are starting to understand and respect each other’s styles. On top of that, I get to freelance as a cantor/clergy for life cycle events and singing in different synagogues.

When I share my story to people they understand and get how genuine, hearted and soulful it is and the added value of our business. We are all family, we are all one in this world, we are all part of the puzzle and if someone is hurting or in pain, it hursts us too, we all share the desire and willingness to help others to heal.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This city is huge, and I wish I could stay focus on only one place and spot. I love the restaurants around Midtown, Love homestead for a Sunday to visit the farms, market places, Coral Gables and its elegance, old roads and trees. The little small theaters in Calle 8 are a treat if you like theater. The beaches in Golden Beach.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First of all to the Creator and my soul! Secondly to my parents for bringing me to this world teaching me to take risks and to always follow my heart and my passion. My 3 children, Samuel, Emmanuelle and Oscar, they are our MASTER TEACHERS, my wife Marcela who has been more than a supporter, a partner, a teacher and the voice of daily consciousness, my best mirror. Seminarios Caminos & Guerrero and his founder Choy Wong, Lastly to Rabbi Arieh ben David and his teaching on Rav Kook.

Website: www.talcmhc.org

Instagram: @talcmhc

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/t-a-l-community-mental-health-center-b2697a210

Twitter: @TALCOMMUNITYME1

Facebook: @talcmhc1

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/tal-community-mental-health-center-north-miami-beach

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX8bniTP2zBZvSmcXwYduKQ

Other: Tik Tok: @talcmhc Google Review: https://g.page/r/CbLV_ugW21vpEAg/review